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Tidbits December 2009

12/26/09The Muppet Pre-Parade Unit has been officially announced to be named the "Honorary VolunetEARS Cavalcade" and set to kick-off January 8, 2010. The official announcement is below:

Originally Posted by Walt Disney World Resort

Disney’s Honorary VoluntEARS Cavalcade (beginning Jan. 8) – Each afternoon just before the daily parade at Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom (and at Disneyland Park in California), Muppets characters and parade dancers will join special floats and vehicles celebrating volunteerism and presenting Honorary VoluntEARS serving as Grand Marshals of the parades. Kermit, Miss Piggy and Sweetums will be part of the merriment, while the dancers will be donning outfits that celebrate the work of volunteers.

The publicly announced start date is 4 days later than the date internally announced to Entertainment Cast, so there is a possibility of a "soft run" for the unit starting January 4th or the debut may have indeed been pushed back.

12/19/09Tentatively scheduled to begin January 4th, 2010, the Magic Kingdom will debut a Muppet Pre-Parade unit addition to the daily Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade. Entertainment Cast have reported the unit is planned to feature Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Sweetums, and dancers in construction worker attire. The pre-parade will reportedly be an extension of the Give a Day, Get a Day promotion kicking-off in 2010. It has not been announced if the pre-parade unit will last through the whole promotion or only a portion of it.

Showcasing New Tastes

11/19/09 Epcot’s World Showcase is set to offer a refreshed restaurant in Mexico and a new dining option in Italy in 2010. It has been internally announced that Cantina de San Angel will close for major renovations January 4, 2010. An end date for the renovations has yet to be announced, but it has been announced that the new location will offer expanded seating and improved traffic flow through the adjacent promenade area. Although yet to be confirmed, Epcot Cast have also reported that the new location may include indoor seating. During the renovations a temporary kiosk, named Taqueria Del Lago, will be operating to offer Guests a Quick Service Mexican dining option. The Italy pavilion is also slated to offer Guests a new dining option in 2010. Although the project has yet to be formally announced, a Notice of Commencement has been filed with the General Description of Improvements as “New Construction of Pizzeria” for the Epcot Italy Pavilion. Additionally known at this time, is that the owner of the future operation has been listed as the Patina Restaurant Group-- who currently operates the Tutto Italia location. Although Tutto Italia was planned to receive a major renovation from its initially opened state, the “new construction” language of the document (opposed to “demolition” or “renovation”) imply this work is not the yet-to-be launched renovation and rather a new dining location. Further details and confirmation of the location for this project expect to be announced in the coming months.

A Basket of Changes

12/19/09 Disney’s Animal Kingdom implemented several changes to its Picnic in the Park dining program on November 29, 2009. Guests may now place orders until 2:30 pm rather than 1:30 pm. Pick-up of Tier 1 meals has moved to DinoBites in Dinoland, while pick-up of Tier 2 meals remains at the Kusafiri Coffe Shop and Bakery in Africa. Additionally, Guests now have the option of building a picnic meal from a Grab-n-Go selection if they do not wish to wait for their order to be prepared. This new third option is available at the Beastly Bazzar store in Discovery Island. The selection of Grab-n-Go options include pre-packaged sandwiches, individual bags of potato chips, variety of pre-packaged desserts, and bottles of water.

Castle Cosmetics

12/19/09 Cinderella Castle will be completing a partitioned cosmetic refurbishment at the beginning of 2010. The Fantasyland side of the Castle received a little-publicized cosmetic refurbishment this past September, where an elaborate construction wall and scrim was used to minimize the visual impact of the work. Tentatively set to begin January 12, 2010 the Hub side of the Castle will undergo a similar, but larger refurbishment. As with the first phase, Cast are reporting that graphic scrim depicting the Castle will be used to minimize the visual impact of the refurbishment. In addition to the cosmetic work on the Castle, the moat will be drained for infrastructure work to be conducted as well. During the refurbishment the DreamLights will be removed, so there will not be an additional period of work to accomplish this task. The second phase of this cosmetic refurbishment is tentatively set to be complete in Late March 2010.

Living with Larger Capacity

12/19/09 The one month cut from the Living with the Land refurbishment this past Fall appears to be sprouting-up in Early 2010. Work and additions that were postponed from the shorter-than-announced refurbishment this past September have now been scheduled to take place during a closure January 18 through February 5, 2010. In addition to the previously reported larger capacity boats, Attraction Cast are also reporting updates to the attraction narration and the tropical greenhouse section.

9/28/09 Attraction Cast have been informed that Living with the Land has been re-scheduled to open from refurbishment almost one month earlier than originally announced. The attraction, located inside Epcot’s Land pavilion, has been now been scheduled to re-open from refurbishment October 4, 2009.

Thanks for the info! Too bad the QS Italy place doesn't seem to be something that will be open by our trip in March. The Naples restaurant here at DtD in CA has a quick service location next door called "Napolini" and they have REALLY good stuff...pizza by the slice, calzones, and hot panini sandwiches, plus really good salads and desserts. If this is similar, it will be HUGELY popular, since the pizza is actually GOOD!!!